The 2012 European Championships in Helsinki are due to be staged from June 27 to July 1.

The London Olympics are due to begin on July 27.

"We have to get a tradition of running back again, but I do think that tradition is better served by having a European Championships in the public domain twice every four years [rather' than once every four years," said Coe in Barcelona, where this year's edition is taking place.

"I think every two years is a very good thing.

"I've always believed actually that if we were restructuring this again we would have had the continental championship every two years and the world championships only once every four years.

"So I think this is about as good as it will get."

The European Championships have largely been staged every four years since their debut in 1934 but, as first revealed by insidethegames, a change in schedule was proposed in 2007, when 47 of the 50 European Athletics member federations accepted a biennial event.

Britain's head athletics coach, Charles van Commenee, claimed eve of this year's European championships in Barcelona that staging the event every two years could devalue it.

The Dutchman also said it was unlikely any British track athletes selected for the 2012 Olympics would compete at the Europeans in Helsinki because of the proximity of the two events.

That would mean that the likes of Mo Farah, who won the 5,000 and 10,000 metres double in Barcelona, and Jessica Ennis, who has added the European heptathlon crown to the world one she won last year, would be unable to defend their titles in Helsinki.

But Coe, who won four medals in the European Championships during his career, including the gold medal in the 800m at the 1986 event in Stuttgart, brushed these fears aside.

"Athletes will make a judgment about what suits their plans," said Coe, who is also the vice-president of the International Association of Athletics Federations and who is tipped to succeed Lamine Diack as President. 

"I don't think we should get too excited about it [the closeness of the events].

"It happens occasionally.

"It just happens that this year the Olympic Games happen to be in Europe.

"It makes life a little more complicated but it is still important that we have important events every two years.

"I think athletes will have to decide for themselves [whether to compete in both], but that's what good coaching is about."


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